Tim and Olive's Blog

wednesday nights are now my feast nights. :> every wednesday, our fellowship meets for bible study to prepare ourselves for the new year of ministry ahead. and every wednesday, i leave feeling like i’ve had the biggest, most satisfying meal because God’s Word is just SO GOOD.

tonight, God revealed a new dimension of campus ministry that i had never really taken to heart before. while we were chewing on Acts 2:42-47, we noticed that this initial stage of the church was smooth sailing. everything was good, everyone was happy. it was a honeymoon. then, a couple pages later, the religious leaders start getting jealous and the church begins to feel some antagonism (Acts 5:17). After Stephen’s stoning, Luke writes, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:2). the church is now scattered. but the early days served as a solid basis for the believers – they had felt the power of God and seen His love at work in their community. two verses later, we’re told that those who were scattered did not lose their faith but rather, they “preached the word wherever they went.”

in the same way, when students graduate, they too are scattered into the world that is full of danger and persecution. so one role of the campus ministry is to provide an Acts 2 type of environment where they can be rooted and gain a solid foundation in the knowledge and experience of the reality of God. and our grad programs should be more of send-offs!

so many lessons in one day. more insights to be posted tomorrow. :>

DELIGHT

i think i’m finally back in the swing of things now. after having many conversations with different friends today, i sat down and realized that i’m really happy. i’m literally delighted to reconnect with the people around me. my schedule’s starting to fill up again and i don’t resent it. God has restored my soul. :> i look at the remainder of my summer and i see that i probably won’t be getting much theatre work. but i am unphased. i hope to get some commissions for garage paintings (anyone want some artwork on their garage doors? ;> ) so that i can pay for school next year. but i know i rest secure in God’s hands. i’m excited that i can finally meet up with some of my school friends again. i pray that God will give me opportunities to share about His goodness and His gospel with them! it’s sort of odd to be feeling this much joy in a time when my family is grieving, but that’s the depth and beauty of knowing Jesus. because in Christ, death on earth is only temporary separation.

Blessed be Your name, when the sun’s shining down on me,
When the world’s all as it should be,
Blessed be Your name.
Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering,
Blessed be Your name.
– Beth and Matt Redman

TRIBUTE[Saturday, July 12, 2003 – Swatow, China – 6:00am]
Ah Ma slipped into eternity after 97 full years here on earth.

Jesus, thank you for your graciousness to my family, that my dad could go back when he did and witness his mother’s decision to follow You. Continue to grant us your comforting presence as we who remain still have much to do in Your harvest fields. Grant mercy to my relatives who do not have the assurance of Hope that we have – that they would see their need of You. Thank you for taking care of my grandma for me, God. i look forward to getting to know her in eternity.

LOST ART

despite the fact that i don’t have much going on these days, i’ve still managed to procrastinate for a whole week on several small tasks. a couple of the items i’ve put off simply because i really dislike picking up the phone to call people. but one of the slightly more important tasks involves writing a letter.

every time i sit down to write it, my mind draws a blank. is it because i have nothing to say? not really. do i not want to write this person? no. i want to send this letter. then why? hm. i realize that i haven’t written a letter in a long time. i feel rusty and i don’t know how to begin. these days, communication needs to be quick so we email, icq or talk on the phone. the trouble with this high speed communication is that we end up writing in sentence fragments and shortforms all over the place. handwritten letters are simply a dying species. when i was growing up, i wrote letters all the time. but since i hit university, my letter writing has dwindled. maybe now that i have time, i can start it up again. :>

and now that i’ve written to procrastinate about writing the letter, i think i’ll actually start the letter.

oops. :p

SECRET

guy friend: why do girls like flowers so much?
me: it’s a secret between us and God. :>

oh how wonderful to have God as my friend!

NO SACRIFICE

it’s not often that a song can totally change one’s life, but i can honestly say that this one has. i learned it on the Japan project and God has used it to challenge me to totally hand over *everything* in my life to Him. why? because in the end, i am really only exchanging what i think is good for the surpassing greatness of what God wants to give me.

To you I give my life
Not just the parts I want to
To You I sacrifice
These dreams that I hold onto

~Jason Upton

NO SUCH THING

while talking to a friend about the wonders of modern day travel and how transportation now makes the world so small, we thought back to the days of Hudson Taylor and how much faith it would have taken for him to set off to China. my friend made a comment that really made me think. he said, “there was no such thing as a short term mission to Asia.” considering that the journey across the ocean was six months in a ship, there definitely weren’t short term mission trips. if you were going, you went for good. there was no sort of testing the waters. no thinking that “i’ll just be a missionary for a few weeks and come back to my normal life.”

before i left for Japan, that’s sort of how i was thinking. while i knew that God would change me while i was overseas, i could not anticipate the larger impact it would have on my life. now that i’m back, i realize that i cannot come back to my life as i had left it. God’s call for me to be a missionary is a lifelong call. i am His messenger no matter where i go. so what was true for the missionaries of the ages past is also true for me. there is no such thing as a short term mission.

FEEDING FRENZY

i love summer. not just for the hot weather, bright sunshine and long days. i love summer because that’s when i get to read and read and read and read and… :>

since coming back, i’ve started reading Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secretsby Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor (Hudson Taylor’s son and daughter-in-law). i’m about a quarter of the way through it but it’s already been quite inspirational. i’ll just leave you with a couple of quotes i found extra helpful.

Hudson Taylor did not start out to impact “millions.” He started out to love God, to honor Him, and to share His love with individal sinners who needed so desperately to know Him. Jesus called Taylor (and us) to be “faithful,” not “successful.” And God added to the increase.

——

Bear not a single care thyself,
One is too much for thee;
The work is Mine, and Mine alone;
Thy work – to rest in Me.

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BETWEEN THE PAVEMENT CRACKS

Just to tell you that I love you
Isn’t whatyou need to hear right now
Words only last as long as we’re talking
But you’ve drifted away somehow.

Let me caress you with the warmth of the sun
And the cool of the breeze
I smile at you through the flowers
And the faces you see
I’ll sing through the fountains and streams
And know all of this means I love you
I love you.
~CriticalMass

one thing that stuck me while i was in Japan was the sheer amount of flowers everywhere. many of them i had never seen in Canada. i found so much joy walking around because there was so much colour and beauty. there were flowers of all shapes and sizes – some of the tiny ones were really exquisite! but what was most interesting to me was the fact that there were wildflowers sprouting from between the cracks in the sidewalk.

each time i saw a flower, i would be reminded of God, who loves me so much that He woos me with flowers. if you think about it, God didn’t have to make hundreds of flowers individually. He could have easily decided to make one type and left it at that. but because He is the Lover of our souls, He takes the time and care to give us beauty in our world.

HAPPY DANCE DAY

angels are partying in heaven and i’m dancing along with them! my grandma decided to believe in Jesus while my dad was visiting her in China!!! i’m not only excited because it means she’ll be able to spend eternity with God but also because i’ll get to actually know her when we’re in heaven! you see, here on earth, i’ve only seen her a total of four times and even so, i haven’t been able to communicate with her since she speaks a different dialect of chinese. so i really don’t know my grandma. this past january, our family went back to visit her and i was touched by her remarkable intensity yet humility. she’s 97 and life’s been hard for her, but she’s still so generous and giving. wahhhh! i’m so happy we’ll have eternity to talk!! THANKS, GOD!!

i know her decision did not come out of the blue because people have been praying for her for a long time. and now, i just keep praying for the rest of my extended family that they would come to know the love of Christ and experience the joy it is to live with Him every day.